Sept. 3, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico volleyball team downed Lamar, 3-1, in the second session of the Comcast Lobo Invitational, improving to 2-0 in the tournament and 2-1 on the year. With the win, the Lobos will vie for the tournament championship with Villanova this evening at 7:30 p.m. in Johnson Gym.
The Lobos opened the match with a 30-19 beating on Lamar. The Lobos forced 14 Cardinal errors, mainly off the serves of sophomores Samie Weber and Kim Cox. Lamar hit -.219 as a team while UNM posted a .231 percentage.
But Lamar found a way to even things up with a 30-24 win in game two. Lamar looked the best they had all tournament, hitting .289 and committing only eight errors. Senior Nicole Ryan had the best showing for the Lobos in game two, putting down six of the team’s 14 kills for six and one-half points.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch came up big for New Mexico in game three as the Lobos went on to a 30-23 lead. Lamar stuck with UNM, pulling even at 20-20 when Kwasigroch stepped up to serve. She dropped three consecutive balls right over the net, fooling the Lamar defense, pushing the lead to 24-20 before losing her serve. The Lobos quickly got the serve back in their possession and Ryan took care of the rest, serving up an ace.
The Cardinals came out swinging in game four but the Lobos would squash any hope Lamar had of pushing the match to five games. New Mexico took the lead at 5-4 thanks to Cox forcing three errors. Junior Jennifer Heasty recorded two aces, pushing the lead to 12-6. More Cardinal errors increased the Lobo lead to nine (18-9) before Lamar made one last push at a comeback, tying it up at 21 all. Weber stepped up to serve, forcing two errors and getting two kills from Ryan to put UNM back on top. Kwasigroch sealed the win with two errors and an ace.
On the day, Ryan put down a team-high 18 kills. Junior Kelly Therkelsen and senior Chelsea Sondrup tied for the Lobos’ highest hitting percentage (.333). Sondrup, Therkelsen, Ryan and Weber all recorded five blocks. Kwasigroch had 46 assists while Ryan had 19 digs.
In game one of session two, Villanova shut out Northern Arizona to move to 2-0 in the tournament and 4-0. NAU will take on Lamar in the early game of session three, beginning at 5 p.m.